Dixon City Council OKs Shopping Center Plan

Dixon City Council OKs Shopping Center Plan
By Melissa Murphy/Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/23/2008

A new shopping center approved by the Dixon City Council on Tuesday night will expand residents' retail and restaurant options.

The council unanimously approved a 152,000-square-foot shopping center on 14.09 acres in the city's Northeast Quadrant.

"Dixon Town Center" will include a plaza area and shopping center and is to be completed in two phases.

Phase I will include a 15,580-square-foot pharmacy with drive-through and three restaurants totaling 8,700 square feet, along with 18,600 square feet of inline retail space.

Phase II is to include an additional 109,000 square feet of "future" retail.

The council approved a zoning change to allow the center to be built at the corner of North First Street and Vaughn Road.

Part of the property originally zoned community commercial, with council's approval Tuesday, was rezoned highway commercial.

"The reason for the zoning change was to take what was already community and neighborhood oriented and allow us to bring business off of I-80," said Gregg Steele, on behalf of 20th Street Dixon LLC, the group that proposed the project. "It allows us to build a market with tenants that will bring what Dixon wants - variety and flexibility."

The only glitch seemed to be with the name, "Dixon Town Center."
According to Dan Ayala, with the Downtown Dixon Business Association, the name would take away from the "center" of downtown.

Steele said he was flexible and was not "married" to the name of the center and would be willing to work with the DDBA.

Still, Councilman Jack Batchelor disagreed.

"I believe the customers and community will call it whatever it wants," he said. "I don't see how it will be confused with downtown Dixon."

This was also the first City Council meeting at which Michael Gomez sat as vice mayor.

Melissa Murphy can be reached at dixon@thereporter.com.